Fortis India Performs Life-saving Heart Transplant on a 40 Year Old Pakistani National

A team of cardiac experts at the Heart Failure centre at Fortis Malar, Chennai, India, led by Dr. K R Balakrishnan, Director Cardiac Sciences, performed a life-saving complex heart transplant on a Pakistani national; the donor was an Indian national.

40 year old Moulana Mohammed Zubair Ashmi, resident of Tehsil Kharian, District Gujarat, Pakistan, was suffering from a condition called "Dilated Cardiomyopathy", where the functioning of both ventricles of the heart is severely depressed. Doctors diagnosed him with heart failure and advised that a heart transplant be performed.

"When his condition became precarious, he was airlifted from a leading heart hospital in Lahore, Pakistan to Chennai, India. We performed a detailed medical examination, and realised he also had renal failure, had fluid in his lungs and abdomen and was also hepatitis C positive. All this just made his condition extremely difficult to treat," explained Dr. K R Balakrishnan, Director Cardiac Sciences, Fortis Malar.

Despite being on maximal drugs, his cardiac function was deteriorating, leaving the option of either finding a donor heart urgently or fitting him with an artificial heart implant device. His kidney was nearing 'shut down'. Since his right ventricle was severely dysfunctional, long-term artificial heart pump support was ruled out. After a wait of approximately 2 months, a suitable Indian donor heart became available, even though it belonged to a different blood group, thanks to the highly efficient organ-sharing network system created in the State by the Govt. of Tamil Nadu.

"If the transplant had been delayed by even 2 days, it would have cost him his life. Though most transplants are usually performed on people with the same blood group, in Zubair's case the donor's blood group was O+ve, while his was AB+ve," says Dr. Suresh Rao, Chief of Cardiac Anesthesia and Critical Care.

"I am ready to live life all over again and it is all due to the kindness of my saviour heart," he said. Post-surgery, he is recuperating well and has left this country with a new Indian heart.

Dr. K R Balakrishnan said, "There are close to 1.5 million patients diagnosed every year with new onset heart failure in India, and at least a third of them will need advanced therapy to survive."